Dutton to join PM’s voice referendum group

The Liberal leader will join the Albanese government’s meeting to push for detail wanted by Indigenous leaders necessary for a Yes vote.

Peter Dutton will join the Prime Minister’s meeting to express the concerns of Indigenous leaders over the voice.

Peter Dutton is set to participate in a meeting of the Albanese government’s voice referendum working group on Thursday, giving the Opposition Leader the opportunity to push for detail from the Indigenous leaders deciding what information is necessary for a Yes vote.

Plans for the Opposition Leader to join the meeting – which could be pivotal to the Liberal Party’s final position on the voice - were underway after Anthony Albanese extended an invitation to Mr Dutton and warned Indigenous Australians would be disrespected if the referendum failed.

Mr Dutton’s spokesman told The Australian: “He has met with Indigenous leaders and is happy to attend a future meeting of the voice working group.

“Mr Dutton, like millions of Australians, has said all along that he wants more information on the voice and reasonable questions answered.”

Mr Dutton will be given the opportunity to participate in discussions over what is necessary for a Yes vote on the upcoming voice referendum.

Indigenous leader Marcia Langton, who with Tom Calma led the voice co-design process and is a member of the referendum working group, said they had to find a balance on how much information to release.

“We have a dilemma. If we release too much information, there are some politicians who will use that information and turn it into disinformation and start an argument about that. If we release too little, and there’s mountains of information, but if we distribute too little information to the public, then people will feel that they’re being conned,” she told ABC TV.

The Prime Minister questioned “if not now, when” would constitutional recognition take place.

“It is something missing from our nation‘s birth certificate. It’s missing from our Constitution. And I say this: if not now, when? If not now, when will this change occur? And if not the people of Australia this year, who will make this change, which will improve our country, improve our national unity?” Mr Albanese said.

While Mr Albanese refused to weigh in on Greens’ First Nations spokeswoman Lidia Thorpe’s declaration the voice was a “joke” as she prepares to split from her party and oppose the body, Senior Australian of the Year Professor Calma lashed Senator Thorpe’s position as “offensive”.

Senator Lidia Thorpe at the Invasion Day dawn service held in Kings Domain in Melbourne.

Senator Thorpe told a special Greens party room meeting on Wednesday she would not support the advisory body unless she was satisfied it “guarantees First Nations sovereignty is not ceded”.

“I feel a bit offended when we’re starting to determine that the support or the determination of whether you want to support or not support a voice is predetermined by whether you address some of the other issues in Indigenous affairs,” Professor Calma, an architect of the voice co-design process and key adviser to the Albanese government, told ABC radio.

“They can coexist, these approaches … Your support shouldn’t be predicated on whether other things are happening.”

Professor Calma said members of the advisory body would be remunerated in a similar way to members of advisory committees. The Calma-Langton report on the voice states the two co-chair positions would be full-time paid roles.

“People will be compensated for their time, and the compensation will be ... not dissimilar to what the national remuneration tribunal currently determines for all committees,” he said.

“The voice will initially need to work on federal legislation and bills that go through, but it will go down to working with policy and programs within government departments.”

The tribunal sets aside about $80,000 for the chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, while allocating other members a “daily fee” of $823.